SILVERDALE – A 2-acre plot of forested land to the south of the Harrison Medical Center Silverdale campus and a second plot of land near the intersection of State Route 3 and Highway 303 – north of the Silverdale Applebees restaurant – are the two most likely homes of a future bus transfer station.
Kitsap Transit is seeking a new home for a transfer station because they have to move out of their current temporary location along Greaves Way, which will become unusable in early 2016.
A third possible spot for a new transfer station, near Sid Uhinck Drive, is less likely to be chosen.
Kitsap Transit does not own the current temporary location at Greaves Way. Kitsap Transit hopes to purchase their own plot of land so they have a permanent location and can avoid the high costs associated with jumping from temporary station to temporary station as they have done recently.
An ideal transfer station location would be close to a freeway, jobs, and medical services.
Kitsap Transit favored the spot to the south of Silverdale Harrison.
The plan is to at some point have a high-frequency, rapid transit bus line that would quickly connect the Bremerton and Silverdale centers. This “spine” of the bus system will likely run along State Route 303/Waaga Way/Wheaton Way due to its closeness to customers the bus line can serve.
Someone in Port Orchard could then take the foot ferry to Bremerton, hop on a bus, then travel along SR 303 to Silverdale, thus bypassing traffic congestion in Gorst.
Alternately, the spine could also run along State Route 3 instead of along State Route 303.
The spine route would connect to “community circulator” buses that would travel in Silverdale-only or Bremerton-only routes.
One drawback to building a transfer station south of Silverdale Harrison is that traffic congestion along Ridgetop Boulevard there is troublesome. The traffic signal lights may need to be adjusted, or the road may need to be widened.
One advantage of the location is that it already has access to major utilities. The spot near Applebees does not.
The transit board will consider the matter some more at their July 7 meeting.
Learn more by reading the Kitsap Transit Board meeting packet (pdf format).
